Ramban

"And he called the name of the well Esek" [26:20]

Scripture gives a lengthy account of the matter of the wells when in
the literal interpretation of the story there would seem to be no benefit
nor any great honor to Isaac in that he and his father did the identical
thing. However, there is a hidden matter involved here since Scripture's
purpose is to make known a future matter. "A well of living waters"
alludes to the House of G-d which the children if Isaac will build.
He called the first well Esek ("contention"), which is
an allusion to the First Temple, concerning which the nations contended
with us and instigated quarrels and wars with us until they destroyed
it. The second well he called Sitnah ("Enmity"), a name
harsher than the first. This alludes to the Second Temple, which has indeed
been referred to by this very name, "In the beginning of his reign,
they wrote 'sitnah' against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem"
(Ezra 4:6). And during it's entire existence they were a source of enmity
unto us until they destroyed it and drove us from it into bitter exile.
The third well he called Rechovot ("Spacious"). This
is a reference to the Future Temple, which will be speedily built in our
days, and it will be done without quarrel and feud, and G-d will enlarge
our borders, even as it says: "And if the Eternal your G-d enlarge
your border, as He has sworn, etc" (Deut. 19:8) which refers to the
future. And concurring the Third House of the future it is written, "Broader
and winding about higher and higher" (Ezekiel 41:7). (The concluding
statement in the present narrative, concerning the naming of the third
well:) "And we shall be fruitful in the land", signifies that
all peoples will come to worship G-d "with one consent."

Rabbeinu Bachya

" Esav became a skilled hunter, a man of the field. Yaakov
was a simple man a dweller in the tents." [25:27]

The plain meaning of the text is that Yaakov spent his time in the tents
of Shem and Ever, i.e. in their academies.
A kabbalistic approach to the words: The reason the Torah speaks about
the word "tents" in the plural, i.e. ohalim, seeing that
most people dwell in only one tent at a time, is that Yaakov demonstrated
that one could live in the tent of the "higher" regions and
in the tent of the "lower" regions of the universe simultaneously.
We have been taught already (Bereishit Rabbah 68-12) that the countenance
of Yaakov is engraved on the throne of G-d. In view of this, the expression
yoshev ohalim is equivalent to the numerical value of the words
yoshev hakiseh, "The One who sits on the Throne."

Alsheich

"He re-dug the wells of Avraham...they challenged him..."
[26:18-22]

The Philistines did not fill in the wells after Isaac left, as they did
in the days of Avraham, Isaac's father.They did not want to close them
permenantly; they only wanted to deny use of them to Isaac. Originally,
Avimelech had thought that the source of Isaac's wealth and that of his
own countrymen was the same- the mazzal, the heavenly force, supervising
their land -but that Isaac was drawing the lion's share, leaving the Philistines
the leftovers. They thought they could correct this by the expulsion of
Isaac, which would enable them greatly increased benefit from their mazzal.
When Isaac departed and their own lot did not improve whereas Isaac's
continued to prosper, they had to admit that the source of Isaac's wealth
had never been the same as theirs, and that he had not prospered at their
expense. This is what Avimelech and Phichol intended in verse 28. You
are now blessed by G-d means, that now we realize that your success is
due to G-d, not to the mazzal governing our lives.

1) What blessing did Isaac confer on Jacob here? Why is it not spelled
out?
2) Since Jacob was under orders to take one of Laban's daughters as a
wife, the injunction against taking a local girl seems quite unnecessary.
We have explained previously that some blessings apply to life in this
world, whereas others assure the recipient of the quality of life in the
world to come. The latter kind are never spelled out in detail, only hinted
at. Isaac blessed Jacob in verse one with the blessing concerning olam
haba, the future world; in verse 3 he blessed him concerning this
life. The holiness of a person who receives the first kind of blessing,
is contingent on his not defiling himself by intermarrying with the Canaanites.
Therefore, Isaac had to warn against such marriage specifically. He had
to explain why Jacob was permitted to leave Eretz Yisrael and to live
and marry outside, something he himself had not been allowed to do. Having
been a total offering on Moriah, his body had been sanctified in a manner
which made leaving the sacred soul of the land of Israel impossible.

Shelah

The scoffers of that generation maintained that Sarah had been impregnated
by Avimelech and that Isaac was the issue. They claimed that, had Abraham
been Isaac's father, it would have been impossible for Isaac to have fathered
a son such as Esau who pursued married women to commit adultery with them
under the noses of their husbands. Isaac's extraordinary wealth and material
success, the fact that he was sanctified on Mount Moriah, and his life-long
residence on the holy soil of the Land of Israel, all served to show that
he was indeed a true son of Abraham.

Ohr HaChayim

"Isaac sent Jacob, etc." [28:5]

Why is Laban described as Rebecca's brother, something we have known
for a long time? Why is Rebecca described here once more as both Jacob's
and Esau's mother? Actually, the Torah found it necessary to explain why
Isaac would send a pious son to a person such as Laban, seeing the latter
was known to be wicked. True, Abraham had dispatched Eliezer to take a
wife for Isaac from the house of Bethuel; however, Bethuel was not a well-known
evil person, like Laban. Besides, Abraham had never told Eliezer in so
many words to go to the house of Bethuel, whereas he had named Laban specifically
as Jacob's destination. He instructed him to marry a daughter of the wicked
Laban. By repeating that Laban was after all a brother of the pious Rebeccah
the Torah alerts us to the probability that one or both of Laban's daughters
could be just as pious as Rebeccah who stemmed from the house of Bethuel.
One must not assume that the children and grandchildren of a wicked father
or grandfather will automatically turn out to be of evil character. The
Torah hints at this by reminding us that even Rebeccah was the mother
of both a pious person such as Jacob and an evil person such as Esau.

You have to appreciate that in the period under discussion [prior to
the revelation at Mount Sinai], the holy souls had not yet been separated
from the regions in which they were imprisoned. Seeing that Abraham's
family was recognized as a region where holiness had found a foothold,
both he and Sarah being the first proselytes, anyone who would subsequently
convert to Judaism would be called either Abraham if a male or Sarah if
a female. It is a face that holy members of a holy species look for other
members of the same species. Abraham was still incomplete in this regard,
as neither he nor his son Isaac had as yet produced female offspring,
i.e. holy female souls. Perhaps this is even the reason that we are told
in Genesis 25:19: "Abraham begat Isaac", to remind us that he
had succeeded only in producing a holy male soul. This situation still
existed when Isaac sent out Jacob to secure a wife. The holy female souls
had not yet been separated from their place of imprisonment. Isaac therefore
had to send Jacob to search for his lost mate, i.e. the girl in whose
body such a holy soul was imprisoned. It was only during subsequent generations
that Jews were no longer forced to roam the world to find their mates
amongst the Gentiles. If nonetheless some "sparks" of holiness
(holy souls in captivity) still exists among the Gentiles, they will eventually
convert and then be recognized as holy souls returning to their home (the
Jewish people).

This raises the question of Abraham's insistence that Isaac not marry
someone of Canaanite descent. Isaac also instructed Jacob not to marry
a Canaanite. Bereshit Rabbah explains this prohibition against marrying
girls specifically of Cannaanite descent as being due to the tribe being
cursed, whereas Abraham's seed was blessed. Actually the words of the
Midrash are somewhat obscure. In light of what we have written Abraham
may have meant that Canaan (Noach's grandson) had been denied holy female
souls amongst his seed as a result of Noach's curse. Hence there was no
chance of finding the girl who possessed a holy soul amongst the tribe.
This is deeper meaning of Noach's curse, i.e. that Canaan would be denied
access to holiness.

Sources

Ramban
- credits
Adapted from the 13th century classic by the illustrious scholar, philosopher
and defender of the faith, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman-known as 'RAMBAN' or
'Nachmanides', a master kabbalist in his own right and a major link in
the transmission of Jewish mysticism-based on the excellent annotated
English translation, Nachmanides on the Torah, by Rabbi Dr. Charles B.
Chavel

Bachya
- credits
Selected with permission from the seven-volume English edition of The
Torah Commentary of Rebbeinu Bachya, as translated and annotated by Eliyahu
Munk. Rabbi Bachya ben Asher [1255-1340] of Saragosa, Spain, was the outstanding
pupil of Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (the "Rashba"), a main disciple
of Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (the "Ramban"). Several books have
been written about the Kabballah-based portions of R. Bachya's commentary.

Alsheich
- credits
Adapted from Torat Moshe - the 16th commentary of Rabbi Moshe Alshech,
the "Preacher of Zefat" on the Torah, as translated and condensed
in the English version of Eliyahu Munk)

Shelah
- credits
Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz was born in Prague around the year 1565. He served
as Rabbi of Cracow and other congregations before he was appointed as
the Rabbi of the community of Frankfurt on Main in the year 1610. In 1916,
Rabbi Horowitz moved to Prague where he became the Chief Rabbi of the
city. He moved to Eretz Yisrael about 1621. He was rabbi in Jerusalem
and in Tiberias, where he died in or about 1630. In addition to his magnus
opus, Shenei Luchot HaBrit, he also compiled an edition of the prayer-book
with a comprehensive commentary. Many of his innovations, including his
formulation of the Kol Nidrei prayer, have become part and parcel of the
Ashkenazi Siddur.

Ohr HaChayim
- credits
Selected with permission from the five-volume English edition of Ohr HaChaim:
the Torah Commentary of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar, as translated and annotated
by Eliyahu Munk.
The holy Rabbi Chayim ben Moses Attar was born in Sale, Western Morocco,
on the Atlantic in 1696. His immortal commentary on the Five Books Of
Moses, Or Hachayim, was printed in Venice in 1741, while the author was
on his way to the Holy Land. He acquired a reputation as a miracle worker,
hence his title "the holy," although some apply this title only
to his Torah commentary.